South Korea free of US HEU

21 September 2007

[NNSA, 19 September] South Korea has become the 12th country to completely remove all US-origin high-enriched uranium (HEU) research reactor fuel, the US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has announced. The task was completed with the return of 11 unused fuel assemblies, containing about 4 pounds of HEU, from two research reactors at the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in Daejon. It was packaged in South Korea and transported to NNSA's Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee, where it will be stored. NNSA has to date completed 40 shipments from 27 countries, repatriating 1139 kg HEU and 2439 kg of low-enriched uranium (LEU) spent fuel. The NNSA is working through the Global Threat Reduction Initiative to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of HEU in civilian nuclear applications world wide.